The service is operated by eighteen-car Class 373/1 trains and sixteen-car Class 374 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, and newer lines enabling faster journeys were added later—HSL 1 in Belgium and High Speed 1 in southern England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and also with TGV trains. In the United Kingdom the two-stage Channel Tunnel Rail Link project was completed on 14 November 2007 and renamed High Speed 1, when the London terminus of Eurostar changed from Waterloo International to St Pancras International.

In June 2014, the UK shareholding in Eurostar International Limited was transferred from London and Continental Railways / Department for Transport to HM Treasury.[6] In October 2014, it was announced that the UK government planned to raise £300 million by selling that stake.[7] In March 2015, the UK government announced that it would be selling its 40% share to an Anglo-Canadian consortium made up of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Hermes Infrastructure. This sale was completed in May 2015.[4]

A typical Channel Tunnel cross section. A service tunnel lies in between the twin rail tunnels.

The history of Eurostar can be traced to the 1986 choice of a rail tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France.[8]
A previous attempt at constructing a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974, but was quickly aborted. In 1988 construction began on a new basis. Eurotunnel was created to manage and own the tunnel, which was finished in 1993, the official opening taking place in May 1994.[9]

In addition to the tunnel's shuttle trains carrying cars and lorries between Folkestone and Calais, the decision to build a railway tunnel opened up the possibility of through passenger and freight train services between places further afield.[10]British Rail and SNCF contracted with Eurotunnel to use half the tunnel's capacity for this purpose. In 1987 Britain, France and Belgium set up an International Project Group to specify a train to provide an international high-speed passenger service through the tunnel. France had been operating high-speed TGV services since 1981, and had begun construction of a new high-speed line between Paris and the Channel Tunnel, LGV Nord; French TGV technology was chosen as the basis for the new trains. An order for 30 trainsets, to be manufactured in France but with some British and Belgian components, was placed in December 1989.[citation needed] On 20 June 1993, the first Eurostar test train travelled through the tunnel to the UK.[11] Various technical difficulties in running the new trains on British tracks were quickly overcome.[12]

On 14 November 1994, Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels-South railway station in Brussels.[10][13][14] The train service started with a limited Discovery service, the full daily service started from 28 May 1995.[15]

In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average end-to-end speed of 171.5 km/h (106.6 mph) between London and Paris.[16]
On 8 January 1996 Eurostar launched services from a second railway station in the UK when Ashford International was opened.[17]

On 23 September 2003 passenger services began running on the first completed section of High Speed 1.[11] Following a high-profile glamorous opening ceremony[18]
and a large advertising campaign,[19] on 14 November 2007 Eurostar services in London transferred from Waterloo to the extended and extensively refurbished St Pancras International.[20]

The Channel Tunnel used by Eurostar services holds the record for having the longest undersea section anywhere in the world,[21] and it is the second longest rail tunnel in the world.[22]

On 30 July 2003, a Eurostar train set a new British speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph) on the first section of the "High Speed 1" railway through the Channel Tunnel,[11][13] two months before official services began running.

On 16 May 2006 Eurostar set a new record for the longest non-stop high-speed journey, a distance of 1,421 kilometres (883 mi) from London to Cannes taking 7 hours 25 minutes.[23]

On 4 September 2007 a record-breaking train left Paris Gare du Nord at 10:44 (09:44 BST) and reached London St Pancras in 2 hours 3 minutes 39 seconds;[24] carrying journalists and railway workers. This record trip was also the first passenger-carrying arrival to the new St Pancras International station.[25]

On 20 September 2007, Eurostar broke another record when it completed the journey from Brussels to London in 1 hour, 43 minutes.[26]

An international Nightstar sleeper train was also planned; this would have travelled the same routes as Regional Eurostar, plus the Great Western Main Line to Cardiff.[32]
These were also deemed commercially unviable, and the scheme was abandoned with no services ever operated. In 2000 the coaches were sold to Via Rail in Canada.[33][34]

Ashford International station was the original station for Eurostar services in Kent.[35]
Once Ebbsfleet International railway station, also designed to serve the Kent region, had opened, only three trains a day to Paris and one to Disneyland Paris called at Ashford for a considerable amount of time. There were fears that services at Ashford International might be further reduced or withdrawn altogether as Eurostar planned to make Ebbsfleet the new regional hub instead.[36][37]
However, after a period during which no Brussels trains served the station,[38] to the dissatisfaction of the local communities,[39][40][41] on 23 February 2009 Eurostar re-introduced a single daily Ashford-Brussels service.[42][43]

In 2015 Eurostar threatened to require that cyclists dismantle bicycles before they could be transported on trains. Following criticism from Boris Johnson and cycling groups Eurostar reversed the edict.[44]

By March 2016 onboard entertainment was provided by GoMedia, including Wi-Fi connectivity and up to 300 hours of movies and television kept on the train's servers and accessed using the passenger's own devices: mobile phones, tablets etc. A tracker app allows customers to see where they are.[45]

Networks of Major High Speed Rail Operators in Europe. Eurostar line network shown in brown.

LGV Nord is a French 333-kilometre (207 mi)-long high-speed rail line that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. It opened in 1993.[46]
Its extensions to Belgium and towards Paris, as well as connecting to the Channel Tunnel, have made LGV Nord a part of every Eurostar journey undertaken. A Belgian high-speed line, HSL 1, was added to the end of LGV Nord, at the Belgian border, in 1997. Of all French high-speed lines, LGV Nord sees the widest variety of high-speed rolling stock and is quite busy; a proposed cut-off bypassing Lille, which would reduce Eurostar journey times to Paris, is called LGV Picardie.

The Channel Tunnel is a crucial part of the route as it is the only rail connection between Great Britain and the European mainland. It joins LGV Nord in France with High Speed One in Britain. Tunnelling began in 1988, and the 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) tunnel was officially opened by British sovereign Queen Elizabeth II and the French President François Mitterrand at a ceremony in Calais on 6 May 1994.[9]
It is owned by Getlink, which charges a significant toll to Eurostar for its use.[47]
In 1996 the American Society of Civil Engineers identified the tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.[48]
Along the current route of the Eurostar service, line speeds are 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) except within the Channel Tunnel, where a reduced speed of 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph) applies for safety reasons.[49][50]
Since the launch of Eurostar services, severe disruptions and cancellations have been caused by fires breaking out within the Channel Tunnel, such as in 1996,[51]2006 (minor),[52]2008 and 2015.[53]

Until the opening on 2 June 1996, of the first phase of the Belgian high speed line,[54] Eurostar trains were routed via the Belgian railway line 94. The Eurostar routes still use the line as a diversion if engineering works are taking place on HSL1, depending where it is. The 06:13 from London St Pancras to Brussels still uses the line as a diversion to bypass the peak time disruptions on HSL1 due to the extra TGV services from Brussels for the commuters. After 2 June 1996, some Eurostars to Brussels were routed via the first phase of the Belgian High Speed line and the Belgian railway line 78 via Mons. Although this line is still as a diversion if HSL1 is doing engineering, also depending where the maintenance is taking place.[15] Journey times between London and Brussels were improved when an 88-kilometre (55 mi) Belgian high-speed line, HSL 1, opened on 14 December 1997.[55][56]
It links with LGV Nord on the border with France, allowing Eurostar trains heading to Brussels to make the transition between the two without having to reduce speed. A further four-minute improvement for London–Brussels trains was achieved in December 2006 with the opening of the 435-metre (1,427 ft) Brussels South Viaduct.[57]
Linking the international platforms of Brussels-South railway station with the high-speed line, the viaduct separates Eurostar (and Thalys) from local services.

High Speed 1 (HS1), formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a 108-kilometre (67 mi) high-speed railway line running from London through Kent to the British end of the Channel Tunnel.[58][59]
It was built in two stages. The first section between the tunnel and Fawkham Junction in north Kent opened in September 2003, cutting London–Paris journey times by 21 minutes to 2 hours 35 minutes, and London–Brussels to 2 hours 20 minutes. On 14 November 2007, commercial services began over the whole of the new HS1 line. The redeveloped St Pancras International station became the new London terminus for all Eurostar services.[60]
The completion of High Speed 1 has brought the British part of Eurostar's route up to the same standards as the French and Belgian high-speed lines. Non-stop journey times were reduced by a further 20 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes for London–Paris and 1 hour 51 minutes for London–Brussels.[61][62]

Eurostar offers up to sixteen weekday London – Paris services (eighteen on Fridays) including ten non-stop (twelve on Fridays). There used to be ten London–Lille and Brussels services, including five running non-stop as far as Lille, but this has now been reduced to seven each way.[63][64]
In addition, there is a return trip from London to Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy for Disneyland Paris[65] which runs at least 4 times a week with increased frequency during school holidays and an up to 5 times a week service to Marseille via Lyon and Avignon. There are also seasonal services in the winter. "Snow trains",[66] aimed at skiers, to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Aime-la-Plagne and Moûtiers in the Alps; these run twice-weekly, one overnight and one during the daytime.[67]
Intermediate stations are Ebbsfleet International in northwest Kent, Ashford International in southeast Kent, and Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.[68] In February 2018, Eurostar announced the start of its long planned service from London to Amsterdam, with an initial two trains per day from April of that year running between St Pancras and Amsterdam Centraal. This launched as a one-way service, with return trains carrying passengers to Rotterdam and Brussels Midi/Zuid, making a 28-minute stop (which has not been deemed long enough to process UK-bound passengers) and then carrying different passengers from Brussels to London.[69] Passengers travelling back must take Thalys services to Brussels Midi/Zuid where they can join the Eurostar. This is owing to the lack of UK Border Force facilities at Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal.

Since 14 November 2007, all Eurostar trains have been routed via High Speed 1 to or from the redeveloped London terminus at St Pancras International, which at a cost of £800 million was extensively rebuilt and extended to cope with 394-metre (431 yd) long Eurostar trains.[20][70][71]
It had originally been intended to retain some Eurostar services at Waterloo International, but this was ruled out on cost grounds.[72]
Completion of High Speed 1 has increased the potential number of trains serving London. Separation of Eurostar from British domestic services through Kent meant that timetabling was no longer affected by peak-hour restrictions.

Eurostar's fares were significantly higher in its early years; the cheapest fare in 1994 was £99 return.[73]
In 2002, Eurostar was planning cheaper fares, an example of which was an offer of £50 day returns from London to Paris or Brussels.[74][75]
By March 2003, the cheapest fare from the UK was £59 return, available all year around.[73] In June 2009 it was announced that one-way single fares would be available at £31 at the cheapest.[75] Competition between Eurostar and airline services was a large factor in ticket prices being reduced from the initial levels.[76][77]
Business Premier fares also slightly undercut air fares on similar routes, targeted at regular business travellers.[78]
In 2009, Eurostar greatly increased its budget ticket availability to help maintain and grow its dominant market share.[79]
The Eurostar ticketing system is very complex, being distributed through no fewer than 48 individual sales systems.[80]
Eurostar is a member of the Amadeus CRS distribution system, making its tickets available alongside those of airlines worldwide.[81]

First class on Eurostar is called Business Premier; benefits include guaranteed faster checking-in and meals served at-seat, as well as the improved furnishings and interior of Business Premier carriages.[82]
The rebranding is part of Eurostar's marketing drive to attract more business professionals.[83] Increasingly, business people in a group have been chartering private carriages as opposed to individual seats on the train.[84]

Gare de Lille-Europe in France, a common calling point for Eurostar and other TGV services

Without the operation of Regional Eurostar services using the North of London trainsets across the rest of Britain, Eurostar has developed its connections with other transport services instead, such as integrating effectively with traditional UK rail operators' schedules and routes, making it possible for passengers to use Eurostar as a quick connection to further destinations on the continent.[85]
All three main terminals used by the Eurostar service – St Pancras International, Paris Gare du Nord, and Brussels Midi/Zuid – are served by domestic trains and by local urban transport networks such as the London Underground and the Paris Metro. Standard Eurostar tickets no longer include free onward connections to or from any other station in Belgium: this is now available for a flat-rate supplement, currently £5.50.[86]

Eurostar has announced several partnerships with other rail services,[87]
most notably Thalys connections at Lille and Brussels for passengers to go beyond current Eurostar routes towards the Netherlands and Germany.[88]
In 2002, Eurostar initiated the Eurostar-Plus program, offering connecting tickets for onward journeys from Lille and Paris to dozens of destinations in France.[74]
Through fares are also available from 68 British towns and cities to destinations in France and Belgium.[89]
In May 2009 Eurostar announced that a formal connection to Switzerland had been established in a partnership between Eurostar and Lyria, which will operate TGV services from Lille to the Swiss Alps for Eurostar connection.[90][91][92]

Because the UK is not part of the Schengen Area,[93] and because Belgium and France are not part of the Common Travel Area, all Eurostar passengers must go through border controls. Both the British Government and the Schengen governments concerned (Belgium and France) have legal obligations to check the travel documents of those entering their respective countries (as well as those leaving, in the case of Belgium and France).

To allow passengers to walk off the train without arrival checks in most cases, juxtaposed controls ordinarily take place at the embarkation station.

In order to comply with special UK legislation,[94] there are full security checks similar to those at airports, scanning both bags and people's pockets. Security checks at Eurostar are comparable to those at a small airport and generally much quicker than at London Heathrow.[95] The recommended check-in time is 30 minutes except for business class where it is 10 minutes.

Eurostar passengers travelling inside the Schengen Area (Brussels–Lille or Brussels–Calais; Lille–Calais trips are not allowed to be performed by Eurostar) pass through a separate corridor in Brussels bypassing border checks, and enter the preallocated cars of the train, which is reserved for these passengers. This arrangement was set up after numerous illegal immigrants entered the UK without the right to do so, by buying a ticket from Brussels to Lille or Calais but remaining on the train until London – an issue exacerbated by Belgian police threatening to arrest UK Border Agency staff at Brussels-Midi if they tried to prevent passengers whom they suspected of attempting to exploit this loophole from boarding Eurostar trains.[96]

When the tripartite agreements were signed, the Belgian Government said that it had serious questions about the compatibility of this agreement with the Schengen Convention and the principle of free movement of people enshrined in various European Treaties.[97]
On 30 June 2009 Eurostar raised concerns at the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that it was illegal under French law for the collection of information desired by the UK government under the e-Borders scheme, and they would be unable to cooperate.[98][99]

On the northbound Marne la Vallée-Chessy - London train, the security check and French passport check take place at Marne la Vallée-Chessy, while the UK passport check takes place at the UK arrival stations - this is the only route where passengers are not cleared by UK border officials before crossing the channel.

On the northbound Marseille-London train, there is no facility for security or passport checks at the southern French stations, so passengers must leave the train at Lille-Europe, taking all their belongings with them, and undergo security and border checks there before rejoining the train which waits at the station for just over an hour.[100]

On several occasions, people have illegally tried to stow away on board the train,[101][102] sometimes in large groups,[103] trying to enter the UK; border monitoring and security is therefore extremely tight.[104]
Eurostar claims to have good and well-funded security measures.[105]

Eurostar's punctuality has fluctuated from year to year, but usually remains over 90%;[106] in the first quarter of 1999, 89% of services operated were on time, and in the second quarter it reached 92%.[107] Eurostar's best punctuality record was 97.35%, between 16 and 22 August 2004.[11] In 2006, it was 92.7%,[108] and in 2007, 91.5% were on time.[109][110] In the first quarter of 2009, 96% of Eurostar services were punctual compared with rival air routes' 76%.[111]

An advantage held by Eurostar is the convenience and speed of the service: with shorter check-in times than at most airports and hence quicker boarding and less queueing[112][113] and high punctuality, it takes less time to travel between central London and central Paris by high-speed rail than it does by air. Eurostar now has a dominant share of the combined rail–air market on its routes to Paris and Brussels. In 2004, it had a 66% share of the London–Paris market, and a 59% share of the London–Brussels market.[114] In 2007, it achieved record market shares of 71% for London–Paris and 65% for London–Brussels routes.[115]

Eurostar's passenger numbers initially failed to meet predictions. In 1996, London and Continental Railways forecast that passenger numbers would reach 21.4 million annually by 2004,[116] but only 7.3 million was achieved. 82 million passengers used Waterloo International Station from its opening in 1994 to its closure in 2007.[13] 2008 was a record year for Eurostar, with a 10.3% rise in passenger use,[117] which was attributed to the use of High Speed 1 and the move to St Pancras.[118] The following year, Eurostar saw an 11.5% fall in passenger numbers[119] during the first three months of 2009, attributed to the 2008 Channel Tunnel fire[53] and the 2009 recession.[120]

As a result of the poor economic conditions, Eurostar received state aid in May 2009 to cancel out some of the accumulated debt from the High Speed 1 construction programme.[121] Later that year, during snowy conditions in the run-up to Christmas, thousands of passengers were left stranded as several trains broke down and many more were cancelled. In an independent review commissioned by Eurostar, the company came in for serious criticism about its handling of the incident and lack of plans for such a scenario.[122]

In 2006, the Department for Transport predicted that, by 2037, annual cross-channel passenger numbers would probably reach 16 million,[123] considerably less optimistic than London and Continental Railways's original 1996 forecast.[116] In 2007 Eurostar set a target of carrying 10 million passengers by 2010.[124]
The company cited several factors to support this objective, such as improved journey times, punctuality and station facilities. Passengers in general, it stated, are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental effects of air travel, and Eurostar services emit much less carbon dioxide.[125] and that its remaining carbon emissions are now offset, making its services carbon neutral.[126][127] Further expansion of the high-speed rail network in Europe, such as the HSL-Zuid line between Belgium and the Netherlands, continues to bring more destinations within rail-competitive range, giving Eurostar the possibility of opening up new services in future.

Eurostar has been hailed as having set new standards in international rail travel and has won praise several times over, recognising its high standards.[136][137][138] Eurostar won the Train Operator of the Year award in the HSBC Rail Awards for 2005.[87] It was declared the Best Train Company in the joint Guardian/Observer Travel Awards 2008.[139] Eurostar had previously struggled with its reputation and brand image. One commentator had defined the situation at the time as:[140]

In June 2003, Eurostar was battling to recover from the worst period in its 10-year history. Negative media coverage combined with poor sales and the general public's low opinion of the British rail industry, created a major challenge... Eurostar was finding it difficult to pick itself up from one of the worst periods in its decade-long history. The period post 9/11 had sent the business into a downturn. Passenger numbers were drying up due to worries over international travel. Several management changes had led to a pause in strategy. Punctuality had suffered badly because of wider problems with the UK's rail infrastructure.

By 2008, Eurostar's environmental credentials had become highly developed and promoted.[141] In 2006 Eurostar's Environment Group was set up,[142] with the aim of making changes in the Eurostar services' daily running to decrease the environmental impact, the organisation setting itself a target of reducing carbon emissions per passenger journey by 25% by 2012.[143] Drivers are trained in techniques to achieve maximum energy efficiency, and lighting has been minimised; the provider of the bulk of the energy for the Channel Tunnel has been switched to nuclear power stations in France.[143]

This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2014)

Eurostar's current target is to reduce emissions by 35 percent per passenger journey by 2012, putting itself beyond the efforts of other railway companies in this field and thereby winning the 2007 Network Rail Efficiency Award.[142]
In the grand opening ceremony of St Pancras International, one of the Eurostar trains was given the name 'Tread Lightly', said to symbolise their smaller impact on the environment compared to planes.[144]

Eurostar is a member of Railteam, a marketing alliance formed in July 2007 of seven European high-speed rail operators.[145]
The alliance plans to allow tickets to be booked from one end of Europe to the other on a single website.[145] In June 2009 London and Continental Railways, and the Eurostar UK operations they held ownership of, became fully nationalised by the UK government.[146]

Built between 1992 and 1996, Eurostar's fleet consists of 38 EMU trains, designated Class 373 in the United Kingdom and TGV TMST in France. The units have also been branded as the Eurostar e300 by Eurostar since 2015. There are two variants:

31 "Inter-Capital" sets consisting of two power cars and eighteen passenger carriages. These trains are 394 metres (1,293 ft) long and can carry 750 passengers: 206 in first class, 544 in standard class.[148]

7 shorter "North of London" sets which have two power cars and fourteen passenger carriages and are 320 metres (1,050 ft) long. These sets have a capacity of 558 seats: 114 first class, 444 standard and which were designed to operate the aborted Regional Eurostar services.

The trains are essentially modified TGV sets,[149][150] and can operate at up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) on high-speed lines, and 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph) in the Channel Tunnel.[49][50] It is possible to exceed the 300-kilometre-per-hour speed limit, but only with special permission from the safety authorities in the respective country.[151]
Speed limits in the Channel Tunnel are dictated by air-resistance, energy (heat) dissipation and the need to fit in with other, slower trains. The trains were designed with Channel Tunnel safety in mind, and consist of two independent "half-sets" each with its own power car.[31][50] In the event of a serious fire on board while travelling through the tunnel, passengers would be transferred into the undamaged half of the train, which would then be detached and driven out of the tunnel to safety.[152]
If the undamaged part were the rear half of the train, this would be driven by the Chef du Train, who is a fully authorised driver and occupies the rear driving cab while the train travels through the tunnel for this purpose.[153]

As 27 of the 31 Inter-Capital sets are sufficient to operate the service, four are currently used by SNCF for domestic TGV services; one of these regularly operates a Paris–Lille shuttle. The Eurostar logos have been removed from these sets, but the base colours of white, black, and yellow remain. SNCF's lease of the sets is scheduled to last until 2011[needs update], with an option for a further two years.[154]

Each train has a unique four-digit number starting with "3" (3xxx). This designates the train as a Mark 3 TGV (Mark 1 being SNCF TGV Sud-Est; Mark 2 being SNCF TGV Atlantique). The second digit denotes the country of ownership:

In 2004–2005 the "Inter-Capital" sets still in daily use for international services were refurbished with a new interior designed by Philippe Starck.[11][155]
The original grey-yellow scheme in Standard class and grey-red of First/Premium First were replaced with a grey-brown look in Standard and grey-burnt-orange in First class. Power points were added to seats in First class and coaches 5 and 14 in Standard class. Premium First class was renamed BusinessPremier.

In 2008, Eurostar announced that it would be carrying out a mid-life refurbishment of its Class 373 trains to allow the fleet to remain in service beyond 2020.[156]
This will include the 28 units making up the Eurostar fleet, but not the three Class 373/1 units used by SNCF or the seven Class 373/2 "North of London" sets.[157]
As part of the refurbishment, the Italian company Pininfarina was contracted to redesign the interiors,[158] and The Yard Creative was selected to design the new buffet cars.[159]
On 11 May 2009 Eurostar revealed the new look for its first-class compartments.[160]
The first refurbished train was due in service in 2012,[161] and Eurostar plans to have completed the entire process by 2014.

On 13 November 2014 Eurostar announced the first refurbished trains would not re-enter the fleet until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2015 due to delays at the completion centre.[162]

In addition to the announced mid-life update of the existing Class 373 fleet, Eurostar in 2009 reportedly entered prequalification bids for eight new trainsets to be purchased.[163] Any new trains would need to meet the same safety rules governing passage through the Channel Tunnel as the existing Class 373 fleet. The replacement to the Class 373 trains has been decided jointly between the French Transport Ministry and the UK Department for Transport. The new trains will be equipped to use the new ERTMS in-cab signalling system, due to be fitted to High Speed 1 around 2040.[164]

On 7 October 2010, it was reported that Eurostar had selected Siemens as preferred bidder to supply 10 Siemens Velaro e320[165] trainsets at a cost of €600 million (and a total investment of more than £700 million with the refurbishment of the existing fleet included)[166] to operate an expanded route network, including services from London to Cologne and Amsterdam.[167] These would be sixteen-car, 400-metre (1,312 ft) long trainsets built to meet current Channel Tunnel regulations.[167] The top speed will be 320 km/h (199 mph) and they will have 894–950 seats, unlike the current fleet built by the French company Alstom, which has a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) and a seating capacity of 750. Total traction power will be rated at 16 MW.[165][168][169][170]

The nomination of Siemens would see it break into the French high-speed market for the first time, as all French and French subsidiary high-speed operators use TGV derivatives produced by Alstom.[171] Alstom attempted legal action to prevent Eurostar from acquiring German-built trains, claiming that the Siemens sets ordered would breach Channel Tunnel safety rules,[172] but this was thrown out of court.[173] Alstom said, after its High Court defeat, that it would "pursue alternative legal options to uphold its position". On 4 November 2010, the company lodged a complaint with the European Commission over the tendering process, which then asked the British government for "clarification".[174] Alstom then announced it had started legal action against Eurostar, again in the High Court in London.[175]
In July 2011, the High Court rejected Alstom's claim that the tender process was "ineffective",[176] and in April 2012 Alstom said it would call off pending court actions against Siemens.[177] This effectively freed the way for Siemens to build the new Eurostar trains,[178] the first of which were expected to enter service in late 2015.[179][clarification needed]

On 13 November 2014 Eurostar announced the purchase of an additional seven e320s for delivery in the second half of 2016. At the same time, Eurostar announced the first five e320s from the original order of ten would be available by December 2015, with the remaining five entering service by May 2016. Of the five sets ready by December 2015, three of them were planned to be used on London-Paris and London-Brussels routes.[162]

Intended to operate sleeper services over non-electrified parts of the railway network in Britain. Eurostar retained three locomotives for the rescue of failed trains, route learning and driver training, but sold them to Direct Rail Services when the new Temple Mills Depot opened in November 2007.[180]

Were used primarily to rescue failed trains. Eurostar operated two of these from its North Pole depot until 2007, when they were loaned to a pair of educational initiatives having become redundant following the move to Temple Mills.[181][182]

In 2005, the chief executive of Eurostar, Richard Brown, suggested that existing Eurostar trains could be replaced by double-deck trains similar to the TGV Duplex units when they are withdrawn from service. According to Brown, a double-deck fleet could carry 40 million passengers per year from Britain to Continental Europe, equivalent to adding an extra runway at a London airport.[184]

A number of technical incidents have affected Eurostar services over the years, but up to the present[update] there has only been one major accident involving a service operated by Eurostar, a derailment in June 2000. Other incidents in the Channel Tunnel — such as the 1996 and 2008 Channel Tunnel fires — have affected Eurostar services but were not directly related to Eurostar's operations. However, the breakdowns in the tunnel, which resulted in cessation of service and inconvenience to thousands of passengers, in the run-up to Christmas 2009, proved a public-relations disaster.[185]

There have been several minor incidents with a few Eurostar services. In October 1994 there were teething problems relating to the start of operations. The first preview train, carrying 400 members of the press and media, was delayed for two hours by technical problems.[12][186][187][188]
On 29 May 2002 a Eurostar train was initially sent down a wrong line — towards London Victoria railway station instead of London Waterloo — causing the service to arrive 25 minutes late. A signalling error that led to the incorrect routeing was stated to have caused "no risk" as a result.[189]

On 11 April 2006, a house collapsed next to a railway line near London which caused Eurostar services to have to terminate and start from Ashford International instead of London Waterloo. Passengers waiting at Waterloo International were initially directed on to local trains towards Ashford leaving from the adjacent London Waterloo East railway station, until overcrowding occurred at Ashford.[190]

Approximately 1000 passengers were trapped in darkness for several hours inside two Eurostar trains on the night of 19/20 February 1996. The trains stopped inside the tunnels due to electronic failures caused by snow and ice. Questions were raised at the time about the ability of the train and tunnel electronics to withstand the mix of snow, salt and ice which collect in the tunnels during periods of extreme cold.[191]

On 5 June 2000 a Eurostar train travelling from Paris to London derailed on the LGV Nord high-speed line while traveling at 290 km/h (180 mph). Fourteen people were treated for light injuries or shock, with no fatalities or major injuries. The articulated nature of the trainset was credited with maintaining stability during the incident and all of the train stayed upright.[192] The incident was caused by a traction link on the second bogie of the front power car coming loose, leading to components of the transmission system on that bogie impacting the track.[186]

The first departures from St Pancras on 14 November 2007 coincided with an open-ended strike by French rail unions as part of general strike actions over proposed public-sector pension reforms. The trains were operated by uninvolved British employees and service was not interrupted.[60]

On 23 September 2009 an overhead power line dropped on to a Class 373 train arriving at St Pancras station, activating a circuit breaker and delaying eleven other trains.[193] Two days later, on 25 September 2009, electrical power via the overhead lines was lost on a section of high-speed line outside Lille, delaying passengers on two evening Eurostar-operated services.[194]

During the December 2009 European snowfall, four Eurostar trains broke down inside the Channel Tunnel, after leaving France, and one in Kent on 18 December. Although the trains had been winterised, the systems had not coped with the conditions.[195] Over 2,000 passengers were stuck inside failed trains inside the tunnel, and over 75,000 had their services disrupted.[196] All Eurostar services were cancelled from Saturday 19 December to Monday 21 December 2009.[197] An independent review, published on 12 February 2010, was critical of the contingency plans in place for assisting passengers stranded by the delays, calling them "insufficient".[198][199]

On 7 January 2010 a Brussels-London train broke down in the Channel Tunnel,[200] resulting in three other trains failing to complete their journeys.[201] The cause of the failure was the onboard signalling system.[202] Due to the severe weather, a limited service was operated in the next few days.[203][204]

On 15 February 2010, services between Brussels and London were interrupted following the Halle train collision, this time after the dedicated HSL 1 lines in the suburbs of the Belgian capital were blocked by debris from a serious train crash on the suburban commuter lines alongside.[205] No efforts were made to reroute trains around the blockage; Eurostar instead terminated services to Brussels at Lille, directing passengers to continue their journey on local trains. Brussels services resumed on a limited scale on 22 February.

On 21 February 2010 the 21:43 service from Paris to London broke down just outside Ashford International,[206] stranding 740 passengers for several hours while a rescue train was called in.

On 15 April 2010 air traffic in Western Europe closed because of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Many travellers between the UK and the European mainland instead took the Eurostar train, all tickets between Brussels and London on 15 and 16 April being sold out within 3½ hours after the closure of British airspace.
[207] Between 15 and 20 April, Eurostar put on 33 additional trains and carried 165,000 passengers – 50,000 more than had been scheduled to travel during this period.

On 20 December 2010, the Channel Tunnel was closed off for a day due to snowy weather. Eurostar Trains were suspended that day with thousands of passengers stranded in the run up to Christmas

On 17 October 2011 a man fell at approximately 17:40[208] or 17:50[209][210][211] from the 17:04 service from London to Brussels as it passed through Westenhanger and Cheriton in Folkestone, near the entry to the Channel Tunnel.[212] The individual was an Albanian who had been refused entry to the United Kingdom and was voluntarily returning to Brussels. The line was handed back at 22:09 after being closed for several hours following the incident.[208][210] The train itself returned north to Ashford International, where passengers were transferred to a Eurostar service operating from Marne-la-Vallée to London, where passengers arrived again at approximately 22:30.[208][210]

Eurostar trains do not currently call at Stratford International, originally intended to be the London stop for the regional Eurostars.[213] This was to be reviewed following the 2012 Olympics.[214] However, in 2013, Eurostar claimed that its 'business would be hit' by stopping trains there.[215]

Although the original plan for Regional Eurostar services to destinations north of London was abandoned,[29] the significantly improved journey times available since the opening of High Speed 1 — which is physically connected to both the East Coast Main Line and the North London Line (for the West Coast Main Line) at St Pancras — and the recently increased maximum speeds on the West Coast Main Line may make potential Regional Eurostar services more commercially viable. This would be even more likely if proposals are adopted for a new high-speed line from London to the north of Britain.[216]
Simon Montague, Eurostar's Director of Communications, commented that: "...International services to the regions are only likely once High Speed 2 is built."[217] However, as of 2014 the current plans for High Speed 2 do not allow for a direct rail link between that new line, and High Speed 1, meaning passengers would still be required to change at Euston and take some form of transportation to St Pancras International.[218]

Key pieces of infrastructure still belong to LCR via its subsidiary London & Continental Stations and Property, such as the Manchester International Depot, and Eurostar (UK) still owns several track access rights and the rights to paths on both the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines.[219][220]
While no announcement has been made of plans to start Regional Eurostar services, it remains a possibility for the future. In the meantime, the closest equivalent to Regional Eurostar services are same-station connections with East Midlands Trains and Thameslink, changing at St Pancras. The recent construction of a new concourse at adjacent King's Cross Station has improved interchange with St Pancras[221] and provided London North Eastern Railway, Great Northern, Hull Trains and Grand Central services with easier connections to Eurostar.

Eurostar has already been involved in reviewing and publishing reports into High Speed 2 for the British Government[222] and looks favourably upon such an undertaking. The operation of Regional Eurostar services will not be considered until such time as High Speed 2 has been completed.[217] Alternatively, future loans of the North of London sets to other operators would enable the trains to operate at their full speed, unlike GNER's previous loan between 2000 and 2005, where the trains were limited to 175 km/h (109 mph) on regular track. A separate company called High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd[223] has been set up to investigate the feasibility and viability of a new line likely serving a similar route to the West Coast Main Line.[224]

LGV Picardie is a proposed high-speed line between Paris and Calais via Amiens. By cutting off the corner of the LGV Nord at Lille, it would enable Eurostar trains to save 20 minutes on the journey between Paris and Calais, bringing the London–Paris journey time under 2 hours. In 2008 the French Government announced its future investment plans for new LGVs to be built up to 2020; LGV Picardie was not included but was listed as planned in the longer term.[225] It has later been confirmed that LGV Picardie is intended to be built between 2020 and 2030.

"We know we can go to most places in France physically, because our trains are compatible with French infrastructure, but then you've got to look at impact on fleet utilisation, you've got to have a station that's got the spare capacity to have a train stood for a number of hours, for all the security, screening, passport control passes. So it's not possible to go just anywhere. And you've got to be able to get the control authorities to agree that there's a big enough market for it to be worthwhile for them to set up there."

The reduced journey times offered by the opening of High Speed 1[61] and the opening of the LGV Est and HSL-Zuid bring more continental destinations[227]
within a range from London where rail is competitive with air travel. By Eurostar's estimates a train would then take 3 hours 30 minutes from London to Amsterdam.[228]
At present Eurostar is concentrating on developing its connections with other services,[87][88] but direct services to other destinations would be possible. However, the routes that any potential services are likely to take would include infrastructure that Eurostar's rolling stock has not been built to use — German railways mostly have 15 kV AC electrification,[229] while the Netherlands uses 1.5 kV DC (except on HSL Zuid and the Betuweroute).[230]
To operate on these lines would require new or heavily modified rolling stock designed to operate at these different voltages, in addition to those already in use. Signalling systems also differ.[58][231] In addition to the infrastructure difficulties, any potential Eurostar services beyond Paris and Brussels would also require the installation of stringent security measures, due to the UK's not having signed up to the Schengen Agreement,[93] which allows unrestricted movement across borders of member countries.

The difficulties that Eurostar faces in expanding its services would also be faced by any potential competitors to Eurostar. As the UK is outside the Schengen Agreement, London-bound trains must use platforms that are physically isolated,[152] a constraint which other international operators such as Thalys do not face. In addition, the British authorities are required to make passenger security and passport checks before they board the train,[232]
which might deter domestic passengers. Compounding the difficulties in providing a similar service are the Channel Tunnel safety rules, the major ones being the "half-train rule" and the "length rule". The "half-train rule" stipulated that passenger trains had to be able to split in the case of emergency.[50] Class 373 trains were designed as two half-sets, which when coupled form a complete train, enabling them to be split easily in the event of an emergency while in the tunnel, with the unaffected set able to be driven out. The half-train rule was finally abolished in May 2010. However, the "length rule", which states that passenger trains must be at least 375 metres long with a through corridor (to match the distance between the safety doors in the tunnel), was retained, preventing any potential operators from applying to run services with existing fleets (the majority of both TGV and ICE trains are only 200m long).[233]

In October 2009 the President of SNCF, Guillaume Pepy, outlined plans to expand TGV services around Paris as well as for fleet renewal. A plan to connect LGV Nord, the line used by Eurostar into Paris, with La Défense, a large commercial and business centre in the west of Paris, was described as the "top priority". Pepy estimated that the connection (which would also allow interchange to the proposed Paris – Rouen – Le Havre LGV line) would allow a journey time from central London to La Défense of 2 hr 15 min.[234] Guillaume Pepy defined SNCF's priorities for the future as:[234]

Our dream is to have 12 TGV stations for the 12 million inhabitants of Île de France. Grand Paris would be linked with the European high speed network, to challenge London or Frankfurt.

At the same time as Pepy's announcement, Richard Brown announced that Eurostar's plans for expanding its network potentially included Amsterdam and Rotterdam as destinations, using the HSL Zuid line. This would require either equipment upgrades of the existing fleet, or a new fleet equipped for both ERTMS and the domestic signalling systems used by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.[235] Following the December 2009 opening of HSL Zuid, a London–Amsterdam journey is estimated to take 4 hr 16 min.[236]

In March 2016 in an interview with Bloomberg, Eurostar's Chief Executive expressed interest in operating a direct train service between London and Bordeaux, but not before 2019. Journey time was said to be around four and a half hours using the new LGV Sud Europe Atlantique.[239]

In December 2012 Eurostar announced that on Saturdays during May 2013–June 2013 a new seasonal service would be introduced to Aix-en-Provence, also serving Lyon Part-Dieu and Avignon TGV on the way (the latter being 6 kilometres (4 miles) from central Avignon). This is in addition to the long-standing seasonal summer service on Saturdays during July and August and the first week of September travelling to Avignon Centre.[240] The Aix-en-Provence services did not run in 2014 but was replaced along with the seasonal Avignon Centre services with the new year-round service to Lyon and Marseille as of 1 May 2015.[162]
In 2018, at least, direct services to Lyon, Avignon and Marseille ran only from May to September,[241][242] with connections during the rest of the year being offered via Eurostar but requiring a change to SNCF trains in Paris or Lille.[243] Travel time from London to Marseille was roughly 6.5 hours in 2018.[242]

The first Eurostar service from London after its arrival at Amsterdam Centraal, 4 April 2018

In September 2013, Eurostar announced an agreement with the Government of Netherlands and NS, the Dutch railway company to start twice daily services between London and Amsterdam Centraal; the launch was initially planned for December 2016. The service will use the newly bought Siemens Velaro trainsets and will also call at Brussels, and Rotterdam. The journey time will be around four hours.[244]

Trains will stop in Brussels for half an hour for a security check.[245] Passengers for London from Amsterdam and Rotterdam will undertake all security checks before boarding and will not need to get off in Brussels. The train will also convey passengers from the Netherlands on journeys to Brussels who will not need to pass through security and they will be allocated half the train which will be kept separate from the London-bound passengers by locking the intermediate door. The Brussels-bound half of the train will be security swept on arrival at Brussels before Brussels-to-London passengers can board.[246]

The journey from London to Amsterdam Centraal will take 3 hr 41 min and trains will call at Brussels Zuid/Midi and Rotterdam Centraal Station. From Amsterdam Centraal to London St Pancras, trains will take 4 hr 9 min to include the 28 minute stop at Brussels. Eurostar trains from London will also call at Antwerp Centraal and Schiphol Airport, although trains from Amsterdam will miss out Antwerp on the journey back to London.[247]

In November 2014, Eurostar announced the service to Amsterdam would start in "2016-2017", and would include a stop at Schiphol Airport in addition to the previously announced destinations. Eurostar have indicated that the calling pattern 'is not set in stone' and if a business case supports it the service might be extended to additional cities such as Utrecht.[248]

The service was finally planned to start running on 4 April 2018, with fare prices starting at £35 for a single ticket.[249] An "inaugural train" from St Pancras International to Amsterdam via Rotterdam broke a speed record for the journey to Brussels (1hr 46mins) on 20 February 2018.[249] The first regular service to Amsterdam left St Pancras at 08:31 on 4 April 2018.[250]

In 2010, international rail travel was liberalised by new European Union directives, designed to break up monopolies in order to encourage competition for services between countries.[251][252] This sparked interest among other companies in providing services in competition to Eurostar and new services to destinations beyond Paris and Brussels. The only rail carrier to formally propose and secure permission for such a service up to now is Deutsche Bahn, which intends to run services between London and Germany and the Netherlands. The sale of High Speed One by the British Government having effectively nationalised LCR in June 2009 is also likely to stimulate competition on the line.[253]

In March 2010, it was announced that Eurotunnel was in discussions with the Intergovernment Commission, which oversees the tunnel, with the aim of amending elements of the safety code governing the tunnel's usage. Most saliently, the requirement that trains be able to split within the tunnel and each part of the train be driven out to opposite ends has been removed. However, the proposal to allow shorter trains was not passed.[233] Eurotunnel Chairman & Chief Executive Jacques Gounon said that he hoped the liberalisation of rules would allow entry into the market of competitors such as Deutsche Bahn. Sources at Eurotunnel suggested that Deutsche Bahn could have entered the market at the timetable change in December 2012.[254] This, however, did not happen.

In July 2010 Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced that it intended to make a test run with a high-speed ICE-3MF train through the Channel Tunnel in October 2010 in preparation for possible future operations.[255] The trial ran on 19 October 2010 with a Class 406 ICE train specially liveried with a British "Union flag" decal. The train was then put on display for the press at St Pancras International. However, this is not the class of train that would be used for the proposed service. At the St Pancras ceremony, DB revealed that it planned to operate from London to Frankfurt and Amsterdam (two of the biggest air travel markets in Europe), with trains 'splitting & joining' in Brussels. It hoped to begin these services in 2013 using Class 407 ICE units, with three trains per day each way—morning, midday and afternoon. Initially the only calling points would be Rotterdam on the way to Amsterdam, and Cologne on the way to Frankfurt. Amsterdam and Cologne would be under four hours from London, Frankfurt around five hours.[256] DB decided to put this on hold mainly due to advance passport check requirements. DB had hoped that immigration checks could be done on board, but British authorities required immigration and security checks to be done at Lille Europe station, taking at least 30 minutes.[100]

In August 2010, Trenitalia announced its desire to eventually run high-speed trains from Italy to the United Kingdom, using its newly ordered high-speed trains. The trains will be delivered from 2013.[257][clarification needed]

^Rogers, Richard (July 1995). "Managing British Public Opinion of the Channel Tunnel". Technology and Culture. Society for the History of Technology. 36 (3): 636–640. doi:10.2307/3107245. JSTOR3107245.

^"Eurostar delayed by power fault". BBC News. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2009. Eleven Eurostar services were delayed when a power line collapsed as a train pulled into St Pancras on Wednesday.

^"Refunds after Eurostar breakdowns". BBC News. 26 September 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2009. Friday's 1932 BST service from London St Pancras to Paris and the 1934 BST to Brussels stopped outside Lille, north-east France, at around 2100 BST.

^ abc"Albanian Falls To His Death From Eurostar". Sky News. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2012. about 5.50pm on Monday. … "The man's body has been recovered to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent" he said. "The train was taken out of service and the line handed back at 10.09pm."

1.
Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain
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A limited number of urban services are privately run, but are awarded by the local authority. The system only covers the railways of Great Britain, the railways in Northern Ireland are owned and operated by the state-owned company NI Railways. The franchising system was created by the Railways Act 1993 as part of the privatisation of British Rail by the Government of John Major, prior to this, the railway system had been owned and operated by the government-owned corporation British Rail, which has since been wound up. Prime Minister John Major envisaged splitting up the railways and returning ownership to an equivalent of the Big Four railway companies that had existed before the creation of British Rail, the legislation allowed BR to bid for franchises, if the DPRF agreed, but in practice he never did. Winning bidders were decided on a pure cost basis – those who offered to pay the highest premium, or lowest subsidy, once signed, franchise agreements could only be terminated under certain conditions, namely not meeting the PSR, although fines were available as an intermediate step. The first franchise agreements to be signed were for the South West and Great Western franchises, the first passenger train service operated by a privatised franchise was the South West Trains 05. As the program progressed, all franchises had been awarded and commenced by 1 April 1997, OPRAF was initially criticised for taking too long, but answered that most of the delays were outside of their control, and were indeed caused by the government itself. Ultimately, although there were 25 franchises, the eventual buyers came from only 13 different companies, many were bus companies, with the hoped for interest from airlines and shipping groups failing to be converted into solid bids. In addition, despite several bids, due to difficulties in raising finance, National Express Group was the winner of most franchises, with five. Prism Rail came next, with four, connex, Virgin and MTL all captured two each, with the franchises they won being closely related. Stagecoach also won two, although the second was the tiny Island Line, which would eventually be merged with their main win, South West. Great Western Holdings also won two, on sides of the country - Great Western and North Western, First Group. Their March 1998 buyout of the other GWH partners increased their total to three, in the end, most of the franchises were awarded for lengths from 7 to 7 and a half years. Only seven franchises were longer - two for 10 years, and five for 15 years, only one was shorter, the 5 year award for Island Line. Since this would take time as it involved legislation, in the time it established the SRA in shadow form. Part of their brief was to ensure the railways operated as a coherent network and their goals were closely aligned with the governments wider objectives, set out in July 2000 as the ten-year plan, Transport 2010. It aimed to have these proposals agreed by Autumn 2001, and these long term plans were disrupted in 2001/2 by the impact of the Hatfield rail crash, which led to the nationalisation of Railtrack, creating Network Rail. On 1 February 2001 the position of Franchising Director was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, instead it elected for a short 2-year extension, hoping the situation would be clearer by then

2.
St Pancras railway station
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St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus located on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the terminus of its main line. When inaugurated, the train shed by William Henry Barlow was the largest single-span roof in the world. The restored station has 15 platforms, a centre. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways and is managed by Network Rail, high-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009. St Pancras is often termed the cathedral of the railways, the train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The terminal is one of relatively few stations in England to feature multilingual signage, all notices are written in English. Ashford International station has similar bilingual signs, other stations with foreign-language signs include Southall, which has signs in Punjabi, Wallsend Metro station, and Moreton-in-Marsh. In March 2014, the public relations team commissioned a study of mispronounced words. St Pancras occupies a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide, the south is bounded by the busy Euston Road, with the frontage provided by the former Midland Grand Hotel. Behind the hotel, the Barlow train shed is elevated 5 m above street level, to the west, the original station is bounded by Midland Road with the British Library on the other side of the road. To the east, it is bounded by Pancras Road and is opposite Kings Cross station, the new northern half of the station is mainly bounded to the east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is Kings Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads, St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the level has three groups of terminal platforms, domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. The international platforms do not occupy the width of the Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the ticket hall of Kings Cross St Pancras tube station. The main pedestrian entrance is at the end of this concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach Kings Cross station. There are several items of art on display to the public at St Pancras, at the south end of the upper level, a 9-metre high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock

3.
Gare du Nord
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Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. Near Gare de lEst in the 10th arrondissement, the Gare du Nord offers connections with several urban transport lines, including Paris Métro, RER and buses. By the number of travellers, at around 214 million per year, it is the busiest railway station in Europe, the 24th busiest in the world and the busiest outside Japan. The Gare du Nord is the station for trains to Northern France and to destinations in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands. The station complex was designed by the French architect Jacques Hittorff, the station was inaugurated on 14 June 1846, the same year as the launch of the Paris–Amiens–Lille rail link. Since the station was found to be too small in size, the original stations façade was removed and transferred to Lille. The chairman of the Chemin de Fer du Nord railway company, James Mayer de Rothschild, construction lasted from May 1861 to December 1865, but the new station opened for service while still under construction in 1864. The façade was designed around a triumphal arch and used many slabs of stone, the building has the usual U-shape of a terminus station. The main support beam is made out of cast iron, the support pillars inside the station were made at Alston & Gourleys ironworks in Glasgow in the United Kingdom, the only country with a foundry large enough for the task. The sculptural display represents the cities served by the company. Eight of the nine most majestic statues, crowning the building along the line, illustrate destinations outside France. Fourteen more modest statues representing northern European cities are lower on the façade, however, this was never built due to a dispute between de Rothschild and Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann during his rebuilding of Paris. Whatever the reason, the station has persistently suffered problems with a lack of space, to remedy these problems, in 2015 SNCF engaged the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte to open the station towards the city. It is intended that the station will undergo a major refurbishment to be completed by 2024, the station will remain open during the renovations. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has pledged to address the traffic problems in front of the station by reconfiguring its approaches. Like other Parisian railway stations, the Gare du Nord rapidly became too small to deal with the increase in railway traffic, in 1884, engineers were able to add five supplementary tracks. The interior was rebuilt in 1889 and an extension was built on the eastern side to serve suburban rail lines. More expansion work was carried out between the 1930s and the 1960s

4.
Brussels-South railway station
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Brussels-South is the biggest railway station in Brussels, capital of Belgium. As Brussels is an entity, both the French and Dutch names are official. 1,000 trains pass between Brussels-South and Brussels-North railway stations every day, the station is connected to the Gare du Midi/Zuidstation station of the Brussels Metro system. A station known as Station des Bogards/Bogaardenstation existed since 1840 near the Place Rouppeplein in the part of the city. It was demolished 29 years later as it was too small. A new station designed by Payen opened in 1869 a short distance south of the original one, payens terminal station was itself demolished in 1949 and replaced by a through station on the present site as part of the North-South connection project. In the 1990s, the Eurostar terminal was added on the Rue de France/Frankrijkstraat side and this contains two bay platforms with no onward northbound connection. Line 2 has since been extended beyond Brussels-South - to Clemenceau in 1993, Delacroix in 2006, since 1993 the station also accommodates pre-metro services at separate platforms, with cross-platform interchange between metro and pre-metro in both directions. Following the restructuring of the local public transport network in April 2009. It is situated underneath the Rue Couverte/Overdektestraat, in front of the mainline station, the Belgian Federal State approved a project for the renovation of the station on 12 May 2012 with a total budget of approximately 155 million euro. Since 23 July 2012, SNCFs international coach network, OUIBUS, paris - Lille - Brussels Amsterdam - Brussels Amsterdam - Brussels - London A shuttle service to Brussels South Charleroi Airport leaves from a stop located in Rue de France/Frankrijkstraat. The tallest building in Belgium stands in front of the exit from the station and is named the South Tower

5.
Amsterdam Centraal station
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Amsterdam Centraal is the largest railway station of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and a major national railway hub. Used by 162,000 passengers a day, it is the second-busiest railway station in the country after Utrecht Centraal, national and international railway services at Amsterdam Centraal are provided by NS, the principal rail operator in the Netherlands. Amsterdam Centraal is the terminus of Amsterdam Metro Routes 51,53. It is also served by a number of GVB tram and ferry routes as well as local and regional bus routes operated by GVB, Connexxion, Amsterdam Centraal was designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers and first opened in 1889. It features a Gothic/Renaissance Revival station building and a cast iron platform roof spanning approximately 40 metres, Amsterdam Centraal was designed by Pierre Cuypers, who is also known for his design of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. While Cuypers was the architect, it is believed that he focused mostly on the decoration of the station building. The station was built by contractor Philipp Holzmann, the new central station replaced Amsterdam Willemspoort Station, which had closed in 1878, as well as the temporary Westerdok Station used from 1878 to 1889. In the first proposal, the station would be situated between the Leidseplein and the Amstel river, Cuypers design of the station building in many ways strongly resembled his other architectural masterpiece, the Rijksmuseum, of which the construction had begun in 1876. It features a palace-like, Gothic/Renaissance Revival facade, with two turrets and many details and stone reliefs referring to the capital citys industrial and commercial importance. Cuypers station reflects the nationalistic mood in the late nineteenth-century Netherlands, with its many decorative elements glorifying the nations economic. As with the Rijksmuseum, the overall architecture reminded many contemporaries of medieval cathedrals. Finally, the plan made its way through the Amsterdam municipal council by a narrow majority, the station is built on three interconnected artificial islands in the IJ lake. These islands were created with sand taken from the dunes near Velsen, the islands together are known as Stationseiland. Like many other structures in Amsterdam, the station was built on wooden piles, the construction of the station was delayed because of the instability of the soil, which set back the completion of the work by several years. The station building was completed in 1884, but the commission to Cuypers did not include the roofwork of the platforms, therefore, the station did not yet feature its distinctive station roof. This roof, consisting of 50 curved trusses and a span of almost 45 meters, was designed by L. J. Eijmer, the roof was manufactured by Andrew Handyside and Company of Derby, England. Cuypers did design the decorations for the trusses and the gable ends, on 15 October 1889, the station was officially opened, drawing large numbers of crowds. The visitors were charged 0.25 guilders to see the station, the waterways would soon be replaced by tramways and cars as the primary modes of transport in the city

6.
Ebbsfleet International railway station
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Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the Borough of Dartford, Kent,10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London, England. It is near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west, the station is part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration, a project of national priority. It stands on the High Speed 1 rail line, around 400 metres south-west of Northfleet railway station, the station lies off the A2 trunk road, about 5 mi from its junction with the M25 motorway. During the London 2012 Olympics, it served as a primary service as it is very close to the M25 motorway. The name Ebbsfleet is a creation of seventeenth-century antiquaries, partly inspired by the name of Ebbsfleet in Thanet,75 km to the east. The station was opened to Eurostar and dedicated in a ceremony by Dame Kelly Holmes on 29 January 2008. The similarity of its name to that of Dartford railway station,6 mi away, was also of concern, the Olympic Javelin or Javelin was a high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of games, between St Pancras International station and this station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service, two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour, on High Speed 1 there are avoiding lines in each direction and four platforms, two serving international Eurostar services and two the Southeastern Highspeed services. Southeastern services travelling between London and the North Kent Line use a junction to the north of the station and are served by another pair of platforms that curve away to the east, ticket barriers control access to all platforms. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act allows a total of 9,000 car parking spaces to be constructed, despite being in close proximity to the station, Northfleet has no bus connection to the station. There is a rank directly outside the station entrance/exit. Car rental services for both leisure and business are located in the concourse, the interchange facilities lie at either end of the main station box - taxis, buses and set down at the northern end and coaches to the south of the station box. However, a Crossrail extension from Abbey Wood to Gravesend remains safeguarded, there is a shorter walking route through the car park to the north of Ebbsfleet station, but there are no footpaths provided and this way is obstructed by the car park access barriers. There are no pedestrian or cycle route signs for Ebbsfleet station on any of the possible routes between the stations. As of the Summer 2014 timetable, there are up to five Eurostar services to Paris on Mondays to Fridays, up to four on Saturdays, most of these services run non-stop from Ebbsfleet to Paris, though some also stop at Ashford en route. There are four trains to Brussels on Mondays to Fridays, three on Saturdays and two on Sundays, all Brussels services call at Lille and some also call at Calais

7.
Ashford International railway station
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Ashford International railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the town of Ashford, Kent. It is 56 miles 9 chains down-line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Pluckley and Westenhanger stations on the main line, domestic trains that call at Ashford are operated by Southeastern and Southern, and international services by Eurostar. Eurostar trains use platforms 3 and 4, while domestic trains use the original platforms 1 and 2, while all tracks are electrified with 750 V DC third rail, platforms 3 to 6 are also electrified with 25 kV50 Hz AC overhead lines. The local bus stops are located at the entrance to the domestic terminal, the international terminal is connected to a multi-storey car park via a footbridge and also to the nearby Ashford Designer Outlet by a signposted footpath. The present station was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 1 December 1842, the station then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. Another station was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 1 July 1884 for services via Maidstone East to London and this only lasted 15 years until 1 January 1899 when passenger services were diverted to the former South Eastern Railway station. Remarkably the complete station survived for handling freight and engineering trains until it was closed and demolished around 1999 for construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s by British Rail, the present station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail, Ashford station has been rebuilt on two occasions in recent history. The station layout up until the early 1960s consisted of two tracks, two through platform loops and two bay platforms accessible from the east for terminating services. The supporting columns of these canopies were stamped with the date 1908, the station was rebuilt as Ashford International during the early 1990s for international services from mainland Europe, this included the addition of two platforms to the north of station. The majority of the overbridge and platform buildings from the early 1960s rebuild were destroyed during the rebuild of the early 1990s, a small section of the 1960s overbridge does remain however, as an emergency exit between the up island platform and the up side car park. There are ticket office windows in the booking hall, as well as ticket vending machines. There is a ticket office window in the Eurostar station. The international ticket counter in the Eurostar station is manned for part of the day. International services started on 8 January 1996, before the completion of High Speed 1 in November 2007, twelve Eurostar trains a day called, heading to Paris or Brussels. However this number was reduced because of the opening of Ebbsfleet International station to 3 trains to Paris, a direct train for Brussels was reinstated in 2009. From May 2015 a new service to Marseille runs up to five times a week. Seasonal Ski trains also run in the months to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the French Alps

8.
Gare de Bourg-Saint-Maurice
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Bourg-Saint-Maurice is a railway station in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Rhône-Alpes in south-east France. The station is located at the end of the St-Pierre-dAlbigny-Bourg-Saint-Maurice railway, the station is served by TGV, Lunéa and TER services operated by SNCF. During the winter months Eurostar services from London and Thalys services from Amsterdam, the station was heavily rebuilt for the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville. The station also features some sidings for passenger trains when not in use

9.
Gare d'Aime-La Plagne
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Aime-La Plagne is a railway station located in Aime, Savoie, south-eastern France in the European Union. The station is located on the Saint-Pierre-dAlbigny - Bourg-Saint-Maurice railway, the train services are operated by SNCF. It serves the village of Aime and the ski resort. The station is served by TGV and Thalys high speed services, eurostar services set down at the station but do not pick up passengers

10.
Gare de Lyon-Part-Dieu
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Gare de la Part-Dieu is the primary railway station in Lyon, France. It is situated on the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway, the train services are operated by SNCF. This zone is served by the metro line B, tram T1, T3, T4, the station was constructed in 1978 as part of the new Part-Dieu urban neighborhood project. Before the construction of the Gare de la Part-Dieu, the neighborhood was served by the Gare des Brotteaux and it closed in 1982 and its operations were absorbed into this station. While Part-Dieu is routinely the busiest, five stations operate in Lyon, Perrache, Lyon-Vaise, Saint-Paul, Gorge de Loup. Part-Dieu is a significant railway hub, connected to the French, the station is served by Frances high-speed rail service, TGV, in addition to Intercity and regional TER trains. Part-Dieu also has connections to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport by TGV and has assigned the XYD airport code. The SNCF is proposing connection services to CDG under code sharing agreement with many airlines, the station has significantly surpassed its initial traffic expectations, from a moderate 35,000 passengers a day in 1983 to 80,000 passengers on 500 trains a day in 2001. Because of the traffic, the station was renovated from 1995–2001 to increase the number of platforms. In 2010, the station served roughly 51.1 million passengers, Lyon Part-Dieu has direct access to the Lyon Metro and tramways T1, T3, and T4. Transport in Rhône-Alpes TER Rhône Alpes Timetables TER Rhône-Alpes

11.
Gare d'Avignon TGV
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Avignon TGV is a railway station located in Avignon, Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, south-eastern France, European Union. The station was opened in 2001 and is located on the LGV Méditerranée high-speed line, the train services are operated by SNCF. The station is located 6km south of the city centre and this station has two platforms for trains calling at the station, with two through lines. This allows trains not stopping at Avignon to pass through at full speed and this station, inaugurated in 2001, was designed by the cabinet of architecture of the SNCF under the direction of Jean-Marie Duthilleul and Jean-François Blassel. It has a 340 m -long glazed roof that has been compared to that of a cathedral, on 15 December 2013 a link line between Avignons city station and Avignons high speed station opened, with a regular shuttle service operating between the two. International services operate to Belgium, Brussels, Antwerpen, Germany, Frankfurt, Spain, Barcelona, Madrid, Switzerland, Geneva, England, London and The Netherlands, parts of the 2007 film Mr Beans Holiday were shot at Gare dAvignon

12.
Marseille-Saint-Charles Station
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Marseille – Saint-Charles is the main railway station and intercity bus station of Marseille. It is the terminus of the Paris–Marseille railway. It opened on 8 January 1848, having built for the PLM on the land of the Saint Charles Cemetery. The station is perched on top of a hill and is linked to the city centre by a monumental set of stairs. Since 2001, when the TGV reduced dramatically the travel time between Marseille and northern France, traffic increased and the station is currently the 11th busiest in France. The station was once a key stage on the sea voyage to Africa, the Middle-East, to the rear of the station along Boulevard Voltaire was the goods yard which was used up until the end of the 1990s by the SNCFs road freight operations, Sernam. The station, originally isolated from the city, was equipped with a staircase, envisioned by Eugène Senès in 1911. It is bordered by statues inspired by all the distant locations to which people sailed from Marseilles port, Saint-Charles has 14 terminal platforms and four tracks which run through, all equipped with 1500 V DC overhead wire. Tracks run in various directions, towards Ventimiglia, the north, Briançon, a first extension was opened after World War II. The buildings on the side had been destroyed and were rebuilt to house the administration offices of the SNCF. A new between level was opened to enhance the flow of passengers, at the end of the 1990s a redevelopment project began with the opening of the Marseille underground and bus interchange as well as the arrival of the TGV Méditerranée. Since 2001 new underground parking lots and a tunnel have allowed the station to be renewed, a new hall, the Halle Honnorat, was created housing shops and services. New pedestrian spaces with cafe terraces have also been created atop the grand stairs and its filthy railyard is covered in litter and discarded equipment. Paulin Talabot started the Marseille-Avignon line

13.
Rotterdam Centraal station
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Rotterdam Centraal is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The station received an average of 110,000 passengers daily in 2007, the current station building, located at Station Square, was officially opened in March 2014. Delftse Poort station was damaged by bombing in the Rotterdam Blitz. The new Centraal station was rebuilt just westwards of the site and its original building was designed by architect Sybold van Ravesteyn and was completed on 13 March 1957, officially opening on 21 May. Maas station had closed in 1953 and trains from Utrecht were diverted to Centraal station via the new Rotterdam Noord station, however, the Hofpleinlijn continued to bypass the station. Hofplein station was closed in 2010 after the Hofpleinlijn was redirected through a tunnel. On 9 February 1968 Princess Beatrix opened the first metro line in the Netherlands at Centraal station, the line connected the station to the south of Rotterdam and is now known as Line D. The first subway station had a platform with two tracks. On 28 September 2009, a new and more spacious underground station opened next to the old one. The new station has two platforms with three tracks. The mainline station nowadays has seven platforms with thirteen platform tracks. There are three tracks without platform, in 2007, it was used by approximately 110,000 passengers a day. The 1957 station building was closed in 2007 and demolished the next year - making it the first major railway station in the Netherlands to be taken down to make way for a new one. The new station was completed and opened in 2014, furthermore, the existing station, especially the passenger tunnel, also became too small to handle the growing number of passengers. Traveller numbers were projected to be 320,000 per day in 2025, to cope with this increase, a new station was necessary. On 16 May 2006 Mayor Ivo Opstelten revealed a work of Onno Poiesz consisting of the word EXIT, the final closure of the outdated station took place on September 2,2007, in the presence of Mayor Opstelten, to allow for the demolition of the station. Between 16 January 2008 and the end of March 2008 the station was completely demolished, passengers then, for years, had to use amenities housed in a temporary shelter, a smurf-blue building complex on Conrad Street on the northeast corner of the Groothandelsgebouw. The bicycle tunnel served as a passenger tunnel

14.
British Rail Class 373
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The British Rail Class 373 or TGV TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostars inter-city high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. It is both the second longest—387 metres —and second fastest train in regular UK passenger service, operating at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. It is beaten in both aspects by the Class 374 which is 400 metres long and has a top speed of 320 kilometres per hour, though this is never achieved on HS1 in Britain. It was built by the French company GEC-Alsthom at its sites in La Rochelle, Belfort and Washwood Heath, two types were constructed,31 Three Capitals sets consisting of two power cars and 18 carriages, including two with powered bogies. They are 387 metres long and have 750 seats,206 in first class,544 in standard class, seven North of London trains with 14 carriages, including two carriages with powered bogies. They are 312.36 metres in length and have 558 seats,114 in first class,444 in standard class. The North of London sets were intended to provide Regional Eurostar services from continental Europe to and from north of London, using the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines. The sets were ordered by the companies involved,16 by SNCF, four by NMBS/SNCB. Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the BR sets were bought by London and Continental Railways, the first set was built at Belfort in 1992. Identified as PS1, it was formed of two cars and seven coaches, and was delivered for test running in January 1993. Its first powered runs were between Strasbourg and Mulhouse, and it was transferred to the UK for third-rail DC tests in June 1993, full-length pre-series train PS2 was completed in May 1993. An extra power car, numbered 3999, was built as a spare and this was required for a couple of years, when 3999 was renumbered and replaced another power car whilst it underwent rebuilding at Le Landy. It was overhauled and renumbered 3204 in 2016, the 27 sets still operating on Eurostar were refurbished in 2004/05 with a new interior, designed by Philippe Starck. The grey-yellow look in Standard class and the look in First class were replaced with a more grey-brown scheme in Standard. In 2008, Eurostar announced that it was beginning the process to institute a mid-life update, as a part of the update process, the Italian company Pininfarina was contracted to redesign the interiors, the first refurbished Eurostar was not originally due in service until 2012. The refurbishment could also include a maintenance and a new livery. Maintenance is carried out at close to the three capital cities. In France the trains are maintained at Le Landy depot in northern Paris, the bulk of operations are on Eurostars core routes from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels South

15.
British Rail Class 374
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They began to run passenger services in November 2015. The trains owned by Eurostar International Limited are sixteen-carriage variants of the Siemens Velaro, therefore, Eurostar cannot use its Class 373 units on services to these countries and the Class 374 was designed and built to go where the Class 373 could never go. The Class 374 has replaced around half of the Class 373s, Siemens Velaro high speed EMUs are derived from the ICE3 first used by Deutsche Bahn in 2000. Variants include DB Class 407, intended for services including through the Channel Tunnel. In 2009, Eurostar announced a project to update its fleet. In October 2010, Eurostar announced that Siemens had been selected, the nomination of Siemens saw it break into the French high-speed market, as all French and French subsidiary high-speed operators up to that point used TGV derivatives produced by Alstom. Alstom attempted legal action to prevent the contract, claiming that the Siemens sets would breach Channel Tunnel safety rules, Alstom then announced it had started legal action against Eurostar in the High Court in London. In July 2011, the High Court rejected Alstoms claim that the process was ineffective. The intention was for the first unit to enter service in 2014, as a consequence, Eurostar did receive its first unit in 2014 for presentation but operation could only start a year later. At the presentation of the first train in London on 13 November 2014, Eurostar announced they have ordered 7 additional train sets, by November 2014 nine of the 10 trains had been built and all 10 were scheduled to be delivered by April 2016. The seven trains in the order will be delivered by March 2018. By April 2013 testing had started at Siemens Mobilitys test and validation centre, as of July–August 2014 test were carried out on the LGV Nord line near Lille. The end of 2014 saw testing of one set on the LGV Est due to its higher speed of 320 km/h. At the beginning of January 2016 the Belgian authority SSICF authorized the operation in its country, Eurostar intend to use the trains to expand its core operation between London St Pancras International, Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi/Zuid. To meet the prospect of increased competition through the Channel Tunnel, it intends to use them to expand its network to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Cologne, and more destinations in France. In September 2013, Eurostar announced that its new service between London and Amsterdam, intended to begin operation in December 2016, would be operated by the trains, in April 2016 Eurostar said that the Amsterdam service was now planned to operate from late 2017. Each set is formed of 16 coaches, Siemens Velaro British Rail Class 373 Eurostar Media related to British Rail Class 374 at Wikimedia Commons Specification Sheet

16.
Siemens Velaro
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Siemens Velaro is a family of high-speed EMU trains used in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Russia and Turkey. In the future these trains are also to be used in Great Britain, the Velaro is based on the ICE 3M/F high-speed trains manufactured by Siemens for Deutsche Bahn. Deutsche Bahn were the first to order Siemens high speed trains, the Deutsche Bahn ordered 13 of these units in 1994, the NS four units. The trains were delivered in 1999 for service, the trains were labelled and marketed as the Velaro by their manufacturer, Siemens. Siemens developed its Siemens Velaro based on the ICE 3M/F, Spains RENFE was the first to order Velaro trains, known as Velaro E, for their AVE network. Wider versions were ordered by China for the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail and Russia for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg, since December 2013, the latest generation, Velaro D has been running in its home country, Germany. In July 2006 a Siemens Velaro train-set reached 403.7 km/h, at that time, this was the world record for railed and unmodified commercial service trainsets. The Velaro is a development of the ICE3 family of high-speed EMUs built for Deutsche Bahn. Types are the ICE3 for domestic ICE service and ICE 3M, the ICE 3M can run on four different railway electrification systems in use on Europes main lines and supports various train security systems. Deutsche Bahn ordered 13 of these units in 1994, the NS four designed to run between the German and Dutch rail networks, the latter trains carry NS logos but DB and NS operate the trains together as a pool. As of 2007, six modified trains designated ICE3 MF, on the French LGV Est, these trains run at a top speed of 320 km/h. Velaro E is a Spanish version of the Velaro family, in 2001, RENFE ordered sixteen Velaros designated AVE Class 103. The order was increased to a total of 26 trains. The trains serve the 621 km Barcelona–Madrid line at speeds up to 310 km/h for a time of 2 hrs 30 mins. The first units were delivered in July 2005 and completed their first test runs in January 2006, on 15 July 2006, a train achieved a top speed of 403.7 km/h between Guadalajara and Calatayud on the Madrid–Zaragoza line. This is a Spanish record for railed vehicles, Velaro CRH3C is a Chinese version of the Velaro. In November 2005, China ordered 60 trains for the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway, the eight-car trains are very similar to Spains Velaro E, but 300 mm wider to fit in almost 50% more seats in a 2 plus 3 layout. In the CRH3C version, a 200-metre-long Velaro train will seat 600 passengers and these trains were manufactured jointly by Siemens in Germany and CNR Tangshan in China

17.
Eurostar International Limited
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Eurostar International Limited is the railway company operating the international Eurostar train services between London, Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. Eurostar was previously operated by three companies in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, but this structure was replaced by EIL as a new single management company on 1 September 2010. EIL is owned by SNCF, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hermes Infrastructure, Eurostar International is the largest customer of Eurotunnel, the owners of the Channel Tunnel. Eurostar International was formed in 1990 as European Passenger Services, as the division of British Rail responsible for the UK section of the Eurostar operation. Eurostar trains began operating on 14 November 1994, with EPS, NMBS/SNCB, on 1 April 1994, EPS signed a fixed-rate track access contract with Railtrack lasting until 29 July 2052 as part of the plans for Regional Eurostar services. The privatisation of British Rail saw ownership of EPS transferred to London and this was part of the contract agreed with the Government of the United Kingdom for LCR build and operate High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel. The company was renamed Eurostar Limited and was to use the income from EUKL to help finance the HS1 project, following financial assistance from the government in 1998, LCR was forced to appoint a management contract for EUKL. Bids for the contract were submitted by Virgin Rail Group and Inter-Capital and Regional Rail, the latter was awarded the contract which was to run from 1998 until 2010. In January 2009, after the completion of HS1, the UKs Department for Transport took control of LCR, deutsche Bahn expressed an interest in EUKL but no sale materialised. On 31 December 2009, EUKL was renamed Eurostar International Limited, on 1 September 2010, the three national Eurostar operators merged into EIL as a single company with a single management structure. Following this change, the ICRR management contract for the UK business was terminated, once all Eurostar assets were transferred to EIL, the holdings in the company were amended to LCR, NMBS/SNCB and SNCF. LCR sold a 30-year concession to operate HS1 in November 2010 to a Canadian consortium of Borealis Infrastructure, EIL then paid access charges to the consortium to operate Eurostar trains on HS1. On 4 December 2013, the UK Government announced it was looking to sell LCRs 40% stake in EIL, in January 2014, in a joint venture with Keolis, Eurostar was shortlisted to bid for the East Coast franchise in the United Kingdom. However, a bid by Virgin Trains East Coast, a consortium of Stagecoach and Virgin, in June 2014, the UKs 40% shareholding in EIL was transferred from LCR to HM Treasury, and a sale process was launched on 13 October 2014. In March 2015, the Treasury announced it had sold the stake to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and it also confirmed agreement to redeem its preference share in EIL for £172m, raising £757. 1m in total. EIL is the owner of 38 Class 373 sets and these consist of 31 Three Capitals Eurostar trains and seven North of London Regional Eurostar trains. Following delivery during 2014 onwards, they also become the owner of seventeen British Rail Class 374 sets. These are sixteen-carriage Siemens Velaro units which use distributed traction power

18.
High-speed rail
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High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design, only in Europe does HSR cross international borders. China has 22,000 kilometres of HSR as of end December 2016, while high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Multiple definitions for high-speed rail are in use worldwide, the European Union Directive 96/48/EC, Annex 1 defines high-speed rail in terms of, Infrastructure, track built specially for high-speed travel or specially upgraded for high-speed travel. Minimum Speed Limit, Minimum speed of 250 km/h on lines built for high speed. This must apply to at least one section of the line, Rolling stock must be able to reach a speed of at least 200 km/h to be considered high speed. Operating conditions, Rolling stock must be designed alongside its infrastructure for complete compatibility, safety and quality of service, category II – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h. Category III – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h, the UIC prefers to use definitions because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms. They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system, infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions. The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC, National domestic standards may vary from the international ones. Railways were the first form of land transportation and had an effective monopoly on passenger traffic until the development of the motor car. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they tried to achieve higher speeds. The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz, on 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h. These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail, however, after the breakthrough of electric railroads, it was clearly the infrastructure – especially the cost of it – which hampered the introduction of high-speed rail. Several disasters happened – derailments, head-on collisions on single-track lines, collisions with traffic at grade crossings. The physical laws were well-known, i. e. if the speed was doubled, the radius should be quadrupled

19.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

20.
Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League

21.
Avignon
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Avignon is a commune in south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 90,194 inhabitants of the city, about 12,000 live in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval ramparts. Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven popes resided in Avignon. Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, the town is now the capital of the Vaucluse department and one of the few French cities to have preserved its ramparts. The historic centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, the medieval monuments and the annual Festival dAvignon have helped to make the town a major centre for tourism. The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns, the earliest forms of the name were reported by the Greeks, Аὐενιὼν = Auenion Άουεννίων = Aouennion. The Roman name Avennĭo Cavarum, i. e. Avignon of Cavares accurately shows that Avignon was one of the three cities of the Celtic-Ligurian tribe of Cavares, along with Cavaillon and Orange. The current name dates to a pre-Indo-European or pre-Latin theme ab-ên with the suffix -i-ōn This theme would be a hydronym - i. e. a name linked to the river, but perhaps also an oronym of terrain. The site of Avignon has been occupied since the Neolithic period as shown by excavations at Rocher des Doms and the Balance district. In 1960 and 1961 excavations in the part of the Rocher des Doms directed by Sylvain Gagnière uncovered a small anthropomorphic stele. Carved in Burdigalian sandstone, it has the shape of a tombstone with its face engraved with a stylized human figure with no mouth. On the bottom, shifted slightly to the right is an indentation with eight radiating lines forming a solar representation - a unique discovery for this type of stele. There were also some Chalcolithic objects for adornment and an abundance of Hallstatt pottery shards which could have been native or imported, the name of the city dates back to around the 6th century BC. The first citation of Avignon was made by Artemidorus of Ephesus, although his book, The Journey, is lost it is known from the abstract by Marcian of Heraclea and The Ethnics, a dictionary of names of cities by Stephanus of Byzantium based on that book. He said, The City of Massalia, near the Rhone and this name has two interpretations, city of violent wind or, more likely, lord of the river. Other sources trace its origin to the Gallic mignon and the Celtic definitive article, Avignon was a simple Greek Emporium founded by Phocaeans from Marseille around 539 BC. It was in the 4th century BC that the Massaliotes began to sign treaties of alliance with some cities in the Rhone valley including Avignon and Cavaillon, a century later Avignon was part of the region of Massaliotes or country of Massalia. Fortified on its rock, the city later became and long remained the capital of the Cavares, with the arrival of the Roman legions in 120 BC. the Cavares, allies with the Massaliotes, became Roman

22.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels

23.
Lille
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Lille is a city in northern France, in French Flanders. On the Deûle River, near Frances border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Vieux Lille. The legend of Lydéric and Phinaert puts the foundation of the city of Lille at 640, in the 8th century, the language of Old Low Franconian was spoken here, as attested by toponymic research. Lilles Dutch name is Rijsel, which comes from ter ijsel, the French equivalent has the same meaning, Lille comes from lîle. From 830 until around 910, the Vikings invaded Flanders, after the destruction caused by Norman and Magyar invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes. The first mention of the dates from 1066, apud Insulam. At the time, it was controlled by the County of Flanders, the County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the Scheldt, one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe. A notable local in this period was Évrard, who lived in the 9th century and participated in many of the days political, there was an important Battle of Lille in 1054. From the 12th century, the fame of the Lille cloth fair began to grow, in 1144 Saint-Sauveur parish was formed, which would give its name to the modern-day quartier Saint-Sauveur. Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders was imprisoned and the county fell into dispute, it would be his wife, Jeanne, Countess of Flanders and Constantinople and she was said to be well loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000. He pushed the kingdoms of Flanders and Hainaut towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land and she called her cousin, Louis VIII. He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged, in 1226 the King agreed to free Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. Count Ferrand died in 1233, and his daughter Marie soon after, in 1235, Jeanne granted a city charter by which city governors would be chosen each All Saints Day by four commissioners chosen by the ruler. On 6 February 1236, she founded the Countesss Hospital, which one of the most beautiful buildings in Old Lille. It was in her honour that the hospital of the Regional Medical University of Lille was named Jeanne of Flanders Hospital in the 20th century, the Countess died in 1244 in the Abbey of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister, Margaret II, Countess of Flanders, then to Margarets son, Lille fell under the rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the Franco-Flemish War. The county of Flanders fell to the Duchy of Burgundy next, after the 1369 marriage of Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with Brussels and Dijon. By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was even more powerful than the King of France, and made Lille an administrative and financial capital

24.
Lyon
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I

25.
Marseille
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Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice

26.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town

27.
Rotterdam
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Rotterdam is a city in the Netherlands, located in South Holland, within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt river delta at the North Sea. Its history goes back to 1270 when a dam was constructed in the Rotte river by people settled around it for safety, in 1340 Rotterdam was granted city rights by the Count of Holland and slowly grew into a major logistic and economic centre. Nowadays it is home to Europes largest port and has a population of 633,471, ranking second in the Netherlands, just behind Amsterdam. The Greater Rijnmond area is home to approximately 1.4 million people, Rotterdam is part of the yet larger Randstad conurbation with a total population of 7,100,000. The city of Rotterdam is known for the Erasmus University, riverside setting, lively cultural life, the near-complete destruction of Rotterdams city centre during World War II has resulted in a varied architectural landscape including sky-scrapers, which are an uncommon sight in other Dutch cities. Rotterdam is home to some world-famous architecture from renowned architects like Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom, Ben van Berkel and others. Recently Rotterdam was listed eighth in The Rough Guide Top 10 Cities to Visit, the port of Rotterdam is the largest cargo port in Europe and the 10th largest in the world. Rotterdams logistic success is based on its location on the North Sea. The rivers Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, the extensive distribution system including rail, roads, and waterways have earned Rotterdam the nickname Gateway to Europe, and, conversely, Gateway to the World in Europe. The settlement at the end of the fen stream Rotte dates from at least 900 CE. A dam on the Rotte or Rotterdam was built in the 1260s and was located at the present-day Hoogstraat, on 7 July 1340, Count Willem IV of Holland granted city rights to Rotterdam, which then had approximately 2,000 inhabitants. The port of Rotterdam grew slowly but steadily into a port of importance, becoming the seat of one of the six chambers of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the greatest spurt of growth, both in port activity and population, followed the completion of the Nieuwe Waterweg in 1872. The city and harbor started to expand on the bank of the river. The Witte Huis or White House skyscraper, inspired by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the French Château-style, is evidence of Rotterdams rapid growth, when completed, it was the tallest office building in Europe, with a height of 45 m. During World War I the city was the worlds largest spy centre because of Dutch neutrality, many spies who were arrested and executed in Britain were led by German secret agents operating from Rotterdam. MI6 had its main European office on de Boompjes, from there the British coordinated espionage in Germany and occupied Belgium. In WWI an average of 25,000 Belgian refugees lived in the city, as well as hundreds of German deserters, during World War II, the German army invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Adolf Hitler had hoped to conquer the country in just one day, the Dutch army was finally forced to capitulate on 15 May 1940, following Hitlers bombing of Rotterdam on 14 May and threatening to bomb other Dutch cities

28.
Channel Tunnel
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At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep below the sea bed, and 115 m below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour, the tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world—and international freight trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines, ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. An early attempt at building a Channel Tunnel was made in the late 19th century, the eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. At £5.5 billion, it was at the time the most expensive project ever proposed. The cost finally came in at £9 billion, well over its predicted budget, since its construction, the tunnel has faced several problems. Both fires and cold weather have temporarily disrupted its operation, illegal immigrants have attempted to use the tunnel to enter the UK, causing a minor diplomatic disagreement over the siting of the refugee camp at Sangatte, which was eventually closed in 2002. Migrants have also died attempting to cross through the tunnel, in 1839, Aimé Thomé de Gamond, a Frenchman, performed the first geological and hydrographical surveys on the Channel, between Calais and Dover. In 1865, a deputation led by George Ward Hunt proposed the idea of a tunnel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, around 1866, William Low and Sir John Hawkshaw promoted ideas, but apart from preliminary geological studies none were implemented. An official Anglo-French protocol was established in 1876 for a railway tunnel. On the English side a 2. 13-metre diameter Beaumont-English boring machine dug a 1, on the French side, a similar machine dug 1,669 m from Sangatte. The project was abandoned in May 1882, owing to British political and these early works were encountered more than a century later during the TML project. The French did not take the idea seriously and nothing came of Lloyd Georges proposal, in 1929 there was another proposal but nothing came of this discussion and the idea was shelved. Proponents estimated construction to be about US$150 million, the engineers had addressed the concerns of both nations military leaders by designing two sumps—one near the coast of each country—that could be flooded at will to block the tunnel. This design feature did not override the concerns of both military leaders, and other concerns about hordes of undesirable tourists who would disrupt English habits of living. Military fears continued during World War II, the estimate caused rumours that Germany had already begun digging. In 1935, a British film from Gaumont Studios, The Tunnel and it referred briefly to its protagonist, a Mr. McAllan, as having completed a British Channel tunnel successfully in 1940, five years into the future of the films release. By 1955, defence arguments had become less relevant due to the dominance of air power, in 1958 the 1881 workings were cleared in preparation for a £100,000 geological survey by the Channel Tunnel Study Group

29.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

30.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

31.
Getlink
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Groupe Eurotunnel SE manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France including the vehicle shuttle services, and earns revenue on other trains through the tunnel. It is listed on both the Euronext London and Euronext Paris markets, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 19 July 2012, the company is based in Paris. Signalling and electric supply at 25 kV AC are also under Eurotunnel control. Train operation consists of shuttle trains conveying cars and coaches and other trains conveying heavy goods vehicles between the two terminals, other trains using Eurotunnel infrastructure are operated by the respective owners. The company was formed on 13 August 1986 with the objective of financing, building and operating a tunnel between Great Britain and France, the company awarded a contract for the construction of the tunnel to TransManche Link. The tunnel cost around £9. 5bn to build, about double TMLs original estimate of £4. 7bn. The tunnel was financed partly from investment by shareholders and partly from £8bn of debt, and was opened on 6 May 1994 by HM Queen Elizabeth II. In its first year of operation the company lost £925m because of disappointing revenue from passengers and freight, in April 2004, a dissident shareholder group led by Nicolas Miguet succeeded in taking control of the board. However, in February 2005, Jean-Louis Raymond, the Chief Executive appointed after the coup, resigned and Jacques Gounon took complete control becoming Chairman. In July 2006, shareholders voted on a deal which would have half the debt, by then reduced to £6. 2bn. However this plan failed, and on 2 August 2006, the company was placed into bankruptcy protection by a French court for six months. Following the restructuring, Eurotunnel was able to announce a small net profit in 2007, of €1 million, half year earnings for 2008 rose to €26 million.04 per euro value. The return to financial health allowed the company to announce on 28 October 2009, the anticipated voluntary redemption of some of its convertible debt. By anticipating to November 2009 the reimbursement of debt due in July 2010, it aimed to issue up to 119.4 million new ordinary shares, in December 2009, the company and SNCF acquired Veolia Cargo, splitting the business between them. Socorail has not been announced as being rebranded, in January 2010 the Port of Dunkirk awarded the company a seven year concession, to operate its 200 km railway system. In June 2010, the company acquired British railfreight company FirstGBRf for £31 million, on 11 June 2012, a bid by the company for three Channel ferries belonging to the former operator SeaFrance for lease to another operator was accepted. On 11 June 2012, Eurotunnel acquired the assets of SeaFrance ferries Berlioz, Rodin and they were chartered to start the MyFerryLink ferry company on 20 August 2012, owned by Eurotunnel. In the year 2015, statistics estimate that over 10.5 million passengers travelled on the Eurotunnel with 2,556,585 cars,58,387 coaches and 1,483,741 goods vehicles making use of Eurotunnels services

32.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously

33.
Disneyland Paris
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It is owned and operated by Euro Disney S. C. A. A publicly traded company in which The Walt Disney Company owns a controlling stake, Disneyland Park is the original theme park of the complex, opening with the resort on 12 April 1992. A second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park, opened in 2002, the resort is the second Disney park to open outside of the United States following the opening of the Tokyo Disney Resort in 1983. Following the success of Walt Disney World in Florida, plans to build a theme park in Europe emerged in 1972. Under the leadership of E. Cardon Walker, Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 in Japan with instant success, in late 1984 the heads of Disneys theme park division, Dick Nunis and Jim Cora, presented a list of approximately 1,200 possible European locations for the park. By March 1985, the number of locations for the park had been reduced to four. Both nations saw the economic advantages of a Disney theme park. Both Spanish sites were located near the Mediterranean Sea and offered a climate similar to Disneys parks in California. Disney had also shown interest in a site near Toulon in southern France, the pleasing landscape of that region, as well as its climate, made the location a top competitor for what would be called Euro Disneyland. However, shallow bedrock was encountered beneath the site, which would have rendered construction too difficult, finally, a site in the rural town of Marne-la-Vallée was chosen because of its proximity to Paris and its central location in Western Europe. This location was estimated to be no more than a drive for 68 million people. The final contract was signed by the leaders of the Walt Disney Company, construction began in August 1988, and in December 1990, an information centre named Espace Euro Disney was opened to show the public what was being constructed.3 billion. In order to provide lodging to patrons, it was decided that 5,200 Disney-owned hotel rooms would be built within the complex. In March 1988, Disney and a council of architects decided on an exclusively American theme in each hotel would depict a region of the United States. At the time of the opening in April 1992, seven hotels collectively housing 5,800 rooms had been built, an entertainment, shopping and dining complex based on Walt Disney Worlds Downtown Disney was designed by Frank Gehry. With its towers of oxidised silver and bronze-coloured stainless steel under a canopy of lights, for a projected daily attendance of 55,000, Euro Disney planned to serve an estimated 14,000 people per hour inside the Euro Disneyland park. In order to accomplish this,29 restaurants were built inside the park, menus and prices were varied with an American flavour predominant and Disneys precedent of serving alcoholic beverages was continued in the park. 2,300 patio seats were installed to satisfy Europeans expected preference of eating outdoors in good weather, in test kitchens at Walt Disney World, recipes were adapted for European tastes

34.
LGV Nord
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The LGV Nord is a French 333-kilometre -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed of 300 kilometres per hour, the line appreciably shortened rail journeys between Paris and Lille. Its extensions to the north and the south have reduced journey times to Great Britain and Benelux and its route is twinned with the A1 for 130 kilometres. As it is built in flat areas, the maximum incline is 25 metres per kilometre. Traffic is controlled by the Lille rail traffic centre, the LGV Nord begins at Arnouville-lès-Gonesse,16.6 kilometres from the Gare du Nord on the Paris–Lille railway line. After passing east of the forest of Ermenonville over the viaduc de Verberie, at Ablaincourt-Pressoir, a new station, Gare TGV Haute-Picardie, is served only by inter-regional TGVs. At Croisilles, Pas-de-Calais, a junction leads to the Agny link towards Arras, the LGV crosses the A1 autoroute at Seclin. After the Fretin junction, the LGV has a connection to the network at Lezennes. This junction is used for TGVs going to Lille-Flandres, all TGVs and some Eurostars stop at Lille-Europe. Non-stop Eurostars pass through a tunnel under the city of Lille at 200 kilometres per hour, the line passes south of Armentières and north of Hazebrouck. At Cassel, a provides a connection with Dunkirk. The LGV continues west, crossing the A26 autoroute at Zouafques and ends at Calais-Fréthun and this enables TGV service to Calais and Eurostars through the Channel Tunnel to London. The TGVs continue to Calais-Ville or reverse in either Calais stations and go on to Boulogne-sur-Mer and Étaples-Le Touquet, the route was much criticised, particularly by those in the Picardy region. The LGV crosses the region without a stop, Amiens in particular would have liked to have been on the line. The government judged a route via Amiens to be impracticable, as the Lille route demanded a straight line between Paris and Lille in order to give a reasonable Paris-Lille-London journey time. The LGV Picardie project would address this issue by serving Amiens, Amiens wanted a station closer to the town centre, stopping at Gare dAmiens. ² Arras station is reached via a branch of the LGV Nord that splits off near the village of Croisilles, rain had caused a hole to open up under the track, the hole dated from the First World War but had not been detected during construction. The front power car and the front four carriages derailed, out of the 200 passengers, one was slightly injured

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HSL 1
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The HSL1 is a high-speed rail line which connects Brussels, Belgium, with the LGV Nord at the Belgium–France border. It is 88 km long with 71 km of dedicated high-speed tracks and 17 km of modernised lines, service began on 14 December 1997. The line has shortened journey times, the journey from Paris to Brussels now taking 1,22. The total construction cost was €1.42 billion, the signalling system installed is the TVM-430 in-cab signalling system, the same as LGV Nord in France, and High Speed 1 in the UK. Trains leave Brussels-Midi station via a new completed in 2006 to separate high-speed services from local services. From there they use the traditional lines, at Forest/Vorst the train passes the depot where inspections of Thalys and Eurostar trains may be carried out. Between Rebecq and Enghien the line parallels the A8 autoroute, separated by a security fence, at Enghien the line parallels the regular Brussels–Tournai line for approximately 10 km. The maintenance depot Le Coucou is located near Ath and this station served as the operations base during the construction of the line and currently serves as the maintenance depot for HSL1. Slightly further on is the 2005 m long Arbre Viaduct between Ath and Chièvres, it passes over the Ath–Blaton canal, the Dender River, the Mons road, at Antoing there is a connector to the Mons–Tournai line, used by the Thalys between Paris and Namur. After passing over the 483m Scheldt River Viaduct, and through the 365m Bruyelle cut-and-cover section,11 km further on, the Frétin triangle splits the LGV Nord towards Paris or Lille. High-speed rail in Belgium High Speed 1 — similarly named line in the UK LGV Nord Belgian high-speed rail site

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High Speed 1
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High Speed 1, legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is a 109-kilometre high-speed railway between London and the United Kingdom end of the Channel Tunnel. The line crosses the River Medway, and under the River Thames and it cost £5.8 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour on section 1, intermediate stations are at Stratford International in London and Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with times of London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes. As of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of 300 kilometres per hour and 320 kilometres per hour Class 374 trains, domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour, DB Cargo UK run freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time. The CTRL project saw new bridges and tunnels built, with a combined length nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself, in 2002, the CTRL project was awarded the Major Project Award at the British Construction Industry Awards. The line was transferred to government ownership in 2009, with a 30-year concession for its operation being put up for sale in June 2010. The concession was awarded to a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in November 2010, a high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnels opening in 1994. This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h for this part of their journey, a similar high-speed line in Belgium, from the French border to Brussels, HSL1, opened in 1997. In Britain, Eurostar trains had to run at a maximum of 160 km/h on existing tracks between London Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel and these tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, and jeopardising reliability. The next plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, and this opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station. The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, as too difficult to construct and environmentally damaging. The idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, the original LCR consortium members were National Express Group, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric. While the project was development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways. On 14 November 2006, LCR adopted High Speed 1 as the name for the completed railway. Official legislation, documentation and line-side signage have continued to refer to CTRL, as the 1987 Channel Tunnel Act made government funding for a Channel tunnel rail link unlawful, construction did not take place as it was not financially viable. Construction was delayed until passage of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 which provided construction powers that ran for the following 10 years, the chief executive of the time Rob Holden stated that it was the largest land acquisition programme since the Second World War

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Thalys
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Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille, Thalys serves Amsterdam and Cologne as well. Its system is managed by Thalys International and operated by THI Factory, before Thalys, there had been an express rail service between Paris and Brussels since 1924 on the train service lÉtoile du Nord. In the 1970s it connected the two cities in around 2 hours 30 minutes, the decision to build a high-speed railway between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam was made in 1987. On 4 June 1996 the first train left Paris using the LGV Nord until it reached Belgium, in 1997, the Belgian HSL1 line, allowing 300 km/h and running from the French border to the outskirts of Brussels, was completed for service. On 14 December 1997 the first Thalys train from Paris to Brussels ran on the HSL1, at the same time service commenced to Cologne and Aachen in Germany, and Bruges, Charleroi, Ghent, Mons, Namur and Ostend in Belgium. On 19 December 1998 the Thalys Neige service started to the ski resorts of Tarentaise Valley, on 28 November 1999, the company changed its name to Thalys International. In 2000, Thalys started a daily Service between Brussels and Geneva, Thalys Soleil started offering direct connections to the Provence, initially to Valence, and extended to Avignon and Marseille in 2002. Service between Brussels and Cologne was improved in December 2002 when trains began running on the new HSL2 in Belgium, in 2003, services started to Brussels International Airport and the Thalys Nuits d’Été service to Marne-la-Vallée. Deutsche Bahn purchased 10% of the company in 2007, HSL3 was completed in 2007, but Thalys trains had not yet been equipped with the ETCS signalling equipment necessary to use the new line. After installation and testing, Thalys began operating on HSL3 on 13 December 2009, for the same reasons, Thalys started operating on the HSL 4/HSL-Zuid high-speed line between Antwerp and Amsterdam 13 December 2009, two years after the lines construction. Since 29 August 2011, one journey to Cologne has been extended to Essen Hauptbahnhof. In June 2013, Deutsche Bahn stopped selling Thalys tickets, Thalys has served Düsseldorf Airport station since the winter 2013 schedule went into effect. On 12 April 2014, Thalys started a service between Lille Europe and Amsterdam Centraal. At the end of March 2015, Thalys dropped the Paris – Oostende, on 30 March 2015, Thalys became a train company, and operates since under its own train operator certificate. Starting from 13 December 2015, service in Germany is extended to Dortmund, beyond Brussels, the main cities Thalys trains reach are Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Liège, Aachen and Cologne. Trains to these destinations run partly on dedicated high-speed tracks, the high-speed lines used by Thalys are HSL1 between Paris and Brussels, HSL 4/HSL-Zuid between Antwerp and Amsterdam, and the HSL2 and HSL3 between Brussels and Aachen. For its seasonal operations within France, other high-speed lines are used, journeys from Brussels to Paris are normally 1 hour,22 minutes, for a distance of approximately 300 kilometres

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TGV
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TGV is Frances intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF, the national rail operator. It was developed in the 1970s by GEC-Alsthom and SNCF, originally designed as turbotrains to be powered by gas turbines, the prototypes evolved into electric trains with the 1973 oil crisis. A TGV test train set the record for the fastest wheeled train, in mid-2011, scheduled TGV trains operated at the highest speeds in conventional train service in the world, regularly reaching 320 km/h on the LGV Est, LGV Rhin-Rhône, and LGV Méditerranée. The commercial success of the first LGV, the LGV Sud-Est, led to an expansion of the network to the south, and new lines in the west, north, and east. Eager to emulate the TGVs success, neighbouring countries Italy, Spain, Several future lines are planned, including extensions within France and to surrounding countries. Cities such as Tours have become part of a TGV commuter belt around Paris, in 2007, SNCF generated profits of €1.1 billion driven largely by higher margins on the TGV network. The idea of the TGV was first proposed in the 1960s, at the time the French government favoured new technology, exploring the production of hovercraft and the Aérotrain air-cushion vehicle. Simultaneously, SNCF began researching high-speed trains on conventional tracks, in 1976, the government agreed to fund the first line. By the mid-1990s, the trains were so popular that SNCF president Louis Gallois declared TGV The train that saved French railways, TGV001 was not a wasted prototype, its gas turbine was only one of its many new technologies for high-speed rail travel. It also tested high-speed brakes, needed to dissipate the large amount of energy of a train at high speed, high-speed aerodynamics. It was articulated, i. e. two adjacent carriages shared a bogie, allowing free yet controlled motion with respect to one another and it reached 318 km/h, which remains the world speed record for a non-electric train. Its interior and exterior were styled by British-born designer Jack Cooper, whose work formed the basis of early TGV designs, changing the TGV to electric traction required a significant design overhaul. The first electric prototype, nicknamed Zébulon, was completed in 1974, testing such as innovative body mounting of motors, pantographs, suspension. Body mounting of motors allowed over 3 tonnes to be eliminated from the power cars, the prototype travelled almost 1,000,000 km during testing. In 1976 the French government funded the TGV project, and construction of the LGV Sud-Est, the line was given the designation LN1, Ligne Nouvelle 1. After two pre-production trainsets had been tested and substantially modified, the first production version was delivered on 25 April 1980, the LGV opened to the public between Paris and Lyon on 27 September 1981. Contrary to its earlier fast services, SNCF intended TGV service for all types of passengers and this commitment to a democratised TGV service was enhanced in the Mitterrand era with the promotional slogan Progress means nothing unless it is shared by all. The TGV was considerably faster than normal trains, cars, or aeroplanes, the trains became widely popular, the public welcoming fast and practical travel

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Waterloo International railway station
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It stands on the western side of Waterloo railway station, London but was managed and branded separately from the main-line station. In June/July 2017 the buildings and platforms will be incorporated into the main Waterloo station, then after a period of redevelopment they will be permanently re-opened in December 2018 as part of the main station. The station was designed by the architectural firm Grimshaw Architects with Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and it cost £120 million and was completed in May 1993, in time for the scheduled completion of the Channel Tunnel. Waterloo International had five platforms, numbered 20 to 24, one taken from the main-line station, unlike the platforms at the main station, they were long enough to accommodate trains of up to 20 coaches. The platforms were all covered by a 400 m long glass and steel vault of 37 arches forming a prismatic structure, the five vaults are supported by a grid of cylindrical concrete columns that rise up from the carpark level, through the circulation levels to the platforms. A structural glass wall separated the existing Waterloo Station from the International station, a two-level reception area fronted the main station concourse. The curvature of the roof is steeper on the western side, the roof arches are made up of two dissimilar curved trusses, triangular in section, with compression booms of tubular steel and tension booms of solid steel. Both compression and tension members are curved — structural engineer Anthony Hunt described the trusses as banana shaped, curved, tapering trusses were later used to great effect at Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield. The first Eurostar departure, on 14 November 1994, was formed of Eurostar units 373004/373003, from the next day Eurostar services used their new London terminus of St Pancras International. Ownership of Waterloo International station passed to BRB Ltd. with no plans for the future use of the Eurostar platforms. At the time of closure, Network Rail had no plans to use the other four former international platforms for domestic use. From 4 July 2010 to 2 January 2011 two of the disused platforms hosted theatrical performances of E. Nesbits The Railway Children, the audience was seated either side of the actual railway track. The show includes the use of an engine, coupled to one of the original carriages from the 1970s film, being shunted in. All of the platforms were temporarily used for regional services during the refurbishment of the main station starting in Christmas 2013. Platform 20 came back into use for timetabled services in May 2014. In March 2016, it was reported that the platforms and terminal building will be incorporated into the station as part of a £800 million refurbishment of Waterloo. The terminal building will house a new shopping mall, british Rail developed a series of concepts during the late 1980s with an initial location at the opposite end of the concourse. The in-house design team assisted by Sir Alexander Gibb and Parters as traffic Engineers co-opted the services of Anthony Hunt so as to take the structure forward

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SNCF
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SNCF is Frances national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the national rail services, including the TGV. Its functions include operation of services for passengers and freight. SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe, the railway network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km are high-speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily, since July 2013, SNCF headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2, place aux Étoiles,93200 Saint Denis. In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list and it is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had €27.2 billion of sales in 120 countries. The chairman of the SNCF group is Guillaume Pépy, SNCF operates almost all of Frances railway system, including the TGV, In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the worlds fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, today, SNCF operates 1,850 km of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year, TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.8 km/h. SNCF has a safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has experienced one fatal accident. SNCF also owns the tracks and the stations, since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services, SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, Voyages SNCF. SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting and those projects include, Israel, Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of operations including projects to upgrade the networks general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division, SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members, on behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre

41.
National Railway Company of Belgium
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SNCB/NMBS is the national railway company of Belgium. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB, however it is referred to in English. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by Henry van de Velde consists of the linguistically neutral letter B in a horizontal oval, NMBS/SNCB is an autonomous government company, formed in 1926 as successor to the Belgian State Railways. Essentially, this was a move to facilitate future liberalisation of railway freight, several freight operators have since received access permissions for the Belgian network. In February 2011, NMBS/SNCB Logistics began operating as a separate business, faced with rising losses, in June 2012, the Belgian transport minister announced further reform, NMBS/SNCB Holding would be split up, so NMBS/SNCB would be separate from Infrabel. In 2008 NMBS/SNCB carried 207 million passengers a total of 8,676 million passenger-kilometres over a network of 3,536 kilometres